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Breakfast is porridge on the street
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A nonprofit volunteer group in Minhang has been offering free cups of hot congee every morning to office workers too busy for breakfast and to homeless or other poor people who can’t afford the meal.
For the past six months, at the crossroads of Xizhu and Dushi roads, volunteers wearing blue caps and orange vests have distributed more than 40,000 cups of hot congee.
Some 2,500 volunteers have participated in the project, which was organized by a group called Ren Ai Xin Zhan, which literally means “Inn of Kindness.”
The organization has 12 branches throughout China.
“It’s actually hard to keep a project like this going long-term,” said Chen Liangbing, director of the Ren Ai Xin Zhan’s Shanghai branch. “In other cities in China, our program has also met many hurdles, sometimes leaving only a handful of people to do all the work.”
The congee is cooked at 597 Vegan Restaurant in Minhang. Volunteers arrive at the restaurant every morning at around 4:30am. They cook the congee from scratch to guarantee freshness. In different seasons, they use different ingredients. In summer, they add mung beans; in winter, red beans.
“We all have health certificates,” said Mei Honghua, one of the volunteers. “We wear caps, gloves and masks in the kitchen to ensure food safety.”
Most of the recipients are grateful for the free meal. But some passers-by question the quality of the congee, Chen said. They ask where it comes from and if it’s safe to eat.
Volunteers often find themselves shooed from their distribution site by overzealous urban management officials.
The congee booth has now been moved to a nearby public square.
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